


Debts Paid and Owed

by Freedoms_Champion



Series: Malcolm Merlyn's Mom Moments [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Gen, Mal is still finding kids on the street, Oliver doesn't trust anyone, parental figures, some are a little twisted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24579457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedoms_Champion/pseuds/Freedoms_Champion
Summary: Oliver got hurt while out at night. He knows that none of his partners know where he is or that he's in trouble.So why isn't he exactly where he passed out?
Relationships: Malcolm Merlyn & Oliver Queen
Series: Malcolm Merlyn's Mom Moments [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765921
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Debts Paid and Owed

Oliver knew before he woke up that he would be flat on his back in the alley where he’d passed out. He’d recklessly gone out without telling anyone and without any computer back-up. As long as he hadn’t bled too badly, he’d be able to make it back to the lair and patch himself up. If not, well, he’d always known the crusade would kill him someday.

So, when he woke up on something a little softer than concrete with the sense of incense in his nose, Oliver wasn’t sure what was going on. The air was warm, without the trace of dampness that clung to his lair.

The pain he expected came less powerfully than it should have.

Oliver opened his eyes. There was dim light, of a flickering quality that indicated candles or torches. His gear had been removed and the injuries bandaged, but the mask across his eyes was still in place.

“Hello?” he rasped.

A soft stir of air told him someone moved nearby. A hand entered Oliver’s field of vision, holding a cup with a straw. There didn’t seem to be much to do but drink, even though Oliver was regularly suspicious of strange people giving him things. There was an edge to the water, a scent of herbs perhaps.

“Who are you?” Oliver asked, heaving himself upright. It hurt, but again not as much as it should have.

“I’m not really a stranger,” Malcolm Merlyn said with a healthy dose of ironic amusement.

Oliver lurched toward his gear and got his hands on his bow. He expected Merlyn to lunge and grapple it away from him, which wouldn’t have been hard with Oliver as weak as he was now. He was already calculating his next move when it dawned on him that Merlyn hadn’t moved.

“Oliver, please don’t strain yourself. I’m much rather that you still make it back to Thea,” he said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Don’t talk about Thea,” Oliver replied. He meant for the words to come out as a snap, to sound threatening. It just come out tired.

Merlyn pursed his lips, a gesture Oliver painfully recalled from countless confrontations he’d witnessed between Tommy and his father, one that meant Merlyn was choosing his words carefully. He braced for a scathing reply.

“I’ve known you for a long time, Oliver. My debts to you can’t be vocalized. Please, let me do this one thing.”

Oliver’s grip on his bow slacked a tiny amount. He’d been ready for a fight, for Merlyn to pull out his trademarked superiority and mockery, not a level-headed request.

A request for what, anyway? Oliver wasn’t about to accept any help from the guy unless he had no other choice. There were too many crimes to list that he could lay at Merlyn’s feet and the only thing stopping him at the moment was that Thea still wanted to believe in her father.

“What do you want?”

“I want you to make it home before dawn. Before Thea wakes up and wonders where you’ve gone, since you’ve persisted in keeping her unaware of what you do. I want the son of my friends, the friend of my children, to live long enough to grow a little wiser. Let me take care of you, just this once.”

“If you meant any of those things, you wouldn’t have set my father up to die,” Oliver said, finally easing out of his tense posture. Again, the words didn’t come out carrying the anger they should have.

Then again, it had been a long time since Malcolm Merlyn had wanted to look out for him.

Merlyn had the humanity to shy away from Oliver’s gaze, even if the words weren’t an accusation. That was something; he hadn’t been sure Thea’s father had any humanity left.

“You’re right, Oliver. I have made unimaginable mistakes in my life,” he said quietly. “By the time I realized how far I had gone, it was much too late to come back. All I can do is hope to discharge my debts before the inevitable end catches up with me.”

“What debts? I haven’t done anything for you lately.”

Oliver wasn’t sure what had been in that water, but he lifted the cup again to drink a little more.

“Not favors owed, Oliver. Wrongs to be righted. I’ve done you wrongs beyond expression. Most of the time, I plan to do you more, but I found you bleeding in the dark and I couldn’t have lived with myself if I walked away.”

Oliver snorted quietly. He wasn’t sure that this wasn’t some kind of trick, but there was something in Merlyn’s expression that tugged at his memory. It brought up long buried memories of when he’d been a lot younger, when he’d just befriended Tommy and it wasn’t such a bad thing to hang out at his house. When Malcolm Merlyn had been a warm, generous person.

In a way that Oliver didn’t want to consider to deeply, it made him miss his parents sharply. It had been so long since someone older, someone he’d known since he was small enough to trust everyone without question, had cared what happened to him.

“Fine, Malcolm. What have you been doing to take care of me?”


End file.
